United Continues To Build Lead

QPR 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Rafael (23), Giggs (80)

Team: De Gea, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Young (Valencia 68), Nani, Hernandez (Rooney 62), Van Persie (Welbeck 41)

Kinda surreal feel to the game. Neither side played football and despite the huge gulf of points between the top team in the league and the bottom, one could hardly tell which was which. The only difference in the end was the quality of finishing that the scoreline reflected.

To say we played down to the level of competition is a sheer understatement. QPR were putrid and we didn't smell any better. Strangely for a team that packs with individual talent, QPR just cannot seem to find any teamwork, and it's no wonder based on today's performance, they deserve to be firmly rooted to the bottom of the league. I can only recall two decent shots at our goal. One was cleared off the line by Rafael, the other palmed away by De Gea. Other than those, QPR were never near to troubling De Gea.

At least we looked decent in front of goal, scoring from a screamer from Rafael in the first half and Giggs giving us the badly needed cushion when QPR looked like mounting an unlikely comeback. Our defense looked decent for once with Rio and Vidic making a rare appearance together.

The midfield, however,  was another story altogether. It looked listless and uninterested in the game. In fact the words 'casual' and 'nonchalent' come to mind. Maybe it's just me being critical, but Carrick and Giggs in the centre of the park normally spells trouble. An injection of youth is much needed and we were lucky to face an even slower midfield that had Granero and Taarabt.

As poor as we looked, we still won this one comfortably, but that's exactly what potential champions should be doing. Despite playing way below our normal standards, we are able to produce results. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed, surely we can't squander a 15 point lead.......

Another Comeback

Manchester United 3 - QPR 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Evans (64), Fletcher (68), Hernandez (71)
QPR: Mackie (52)

Team: Lindegaard, Rio, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes (Hernandez 59), Young (Anderson 59), Welbeck (Powell 79), Rooney, Van Persie

Let's just stop wasting time and appeal to the FA to start games at 1-0 down. It seems we just cannot start playing football until we concede. To suggest this was a good victory is a terrible terrible insult. We were utter shit, that is until Mackie put the bottom team 1-0 up.

Even then it took a while before we woke up. Evans evened the scores with a header, followed by another from Fletcher. Hernandez completed the comeback with a sweet goal. We probably just about deserved the victory solely based on desire, but at some point in the season it's just not going to be enough, just as Norwich has shown us.

You know, the entire season I've been ragging on the Scholes and Carrick pairing as the utter bomb, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Ferguson threw up Scholes alongside Fletcher to bore QPR to death. The first half was simply pathetic. The only consolation was that QPR's equally pathetic....in all departments.

Only after conceding that Scholes was replaced with Anderson that the pace of the game changed slightly. Young who had a terrible game, thankfully joined Scholes. As stubborn and loyal Ferguson is, at least he's not blind.

We have a couple of winnable games before meeting Shitty in a couple of weeks. Now that we've mastered the art of coming from behind, let's take the next step of not bloody conceding.

The 2nd Coming Of Scholes Inspires United

Manchester United 2 - QPR 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (pen 15), Scholes (68)

Red Card
QPR: Derry (14)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans, Rafael (Jones 74), Evra, Scholes (Cleverley 74), Carrick, Young (Giggs 62), Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck

Being Easter, this was set up nicely for Scholes to play the hero. Ever since he has resurrected his career with the Red Devils, he's been the cornerstone of everything good that's happened in midfield. He's goal in the second half calmed the nerves at Old Trafford and pushed us to victory against a dogged QPR.

In recent weeks, we've seen luck turn to our favour, none more so in our last 3 fixture. A late penalty not given against Carrick, late goals against Blackburn and in today's game, a dodgy penalty and red card in our favour.

Ashley Young was caught in an offside position and subsequently dived to win us a penalty early in the game. The dive was blatant and had it gone against us, I would have been screaming bloody murder. And if the offside and dive was not bad enough, QPR were further punished with having Shaun Derry cruelly sent off for a foul he didn't deserve. I suppose when you're at the wrong end of the table, decisions really do go against you. In this case, 3 ridiculously poor decisions went against Mark Hughes' team, all at once.

Rooney scored the penalty, and QPR had to readjust their game plan early in the game. Actually, the plan was the same: pack more men in the box. We got into a number of good positions to add a second, but it never came.

The was a mini-revival for QPR early in the second half, but it came to nought. United began to stamp their authority and man advantage with both Rafael and Carrick hitting the crossbar. Kenny was in excellent form in goal, but the stage was set for Scholes.

After a failed clearance from Taarabt, Rafael latched on to the ball and fed Scholes for a screamer to settle the United nerves and gave a cushion for a comfortable win.

In the other fixture that had me late in doing this writeup, Arsenal did their job by deflating the Shitty balloon further with a 1-0 win.

So here is how it stands, 6 games and 8 points in the lead. All we have to do is to win 3 of the remaining 6 and the title returns to Old Trafford. With Shitty collapsing under the pressure, it looks like a tall order to lose the trophy.